Warren, Susan May 1966-

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WARREN, Susan May 1966-

PERSONAL: Born 1966, in MN; married; children: four. Education: University of Minnesota, B.A.

ADDRESSES: Home—MN. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 351 Executive Dr., Carol Stream, IL 60188. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Writer. Served as a missionary in Russia, 1996–2004.

WRITINGS:

(With Elizabeth White and Kathleen Fuller) Chance Encounters of the Heart, Tyndale House (Wheaton, IL), 2002.

(With Susan K. Downs) Ekaterina, Barbour Publishers (Uhrichsville, OH), 2003.

Happily Ever After, Tyndale House (Wheaton, IL), 2003.

Tying the Knot, Tyndale House (Wheaton, IL), 2003.

(With others) The House Love Built: Four Romances Are Built on the Foundation of Faith, Barbour Publishers (Uhrichsville, OH), 2003.

Letters from the Enemy, Heartsong Presents (Uhrichsville, OH), 2004.

The Perfect Match, Tyndale House (Wheaton, IL), 2004.

Escape to Morning, Tyndale House (Wheaton, IL), 2005.

Flee the Night, Tyndale House (Wheaton, IL), 2005.

Author of newsletter The Warren Report. Contributor to Christian magazines and devotional books.

WORK IN PROGRESS: A series of novels for Tyndale House; Russian romantic suspense series for Steeple Hill.

SIDELIGHTS: For Susan May Warren, writing is a way of expressing her religious beliefs, and her novels contain strong Christian themes. She and her husband and four children spent eight years living in Khabarovsk, in eastern Russia, where they served as missionaries. During this time, Warren wrote a regular newsletter, The Warren Report, chronicling the family's experiences and achievements. Her daily life in Russia provided her with a wealth of material to fuel her writing, and became the basis for many articles she wrote for magazines.

Warren's first books are set in the Minnesota woods and along the Lake Superior shoreline, and take place in the fictional town of Deep Haven. Happily Ever After tells the story of a young woman named Mona who dreams of opening a bookstore but finds herself facing numerous hardships and barriers. In an interview with Focus on Fiction, Warren remarked that "it's a story about forgiveness and surprises and trusting God with your dreams." Shawna Saavedra Thorup, in a review for Library Journal, commented that "bibliophiles and romantics will find a guilty pleasure in Mona's quest." Warren followed up with Tying the Knot and The Perfect Match, both of which are also set in Deep Haven. Library Journal contributor Tamara Butler called Tying the Knot "a romantic gem," while a contributor to Today's Christian Woman referred to The Perfect Match as "delightful."

Other series on Warren's writing schedule include a Russian romantic suspense series, for which she mines her experiences living abroad. As Warren told Focus on Fiction, the proposed series "features five 'modern day warriors' from Russia and America trying to live out their faith in a new post-cold war era. It's high tech, fast paced, but romantic and with heroes and heroines that I hope will capture the hearts of my readers."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Library Journal, February 1, 2003, Shawna Saavedra Thorup, review of Happily Ever After, p. 70; September 1, 2003, Tamara Butler, review of Tying the Knot, p. 150.

Marriage Partnership, spring, 2005, review of Flee the Night, p. 7.

Publishers Weekly, February 21, 2005, review of Flee the Night, p. 159.

Today's Christian Woman, July-August, 2004, review of The Perfect Match, p. 23; March-April, 2005, review of Flee the Night, pp. 20-21.